Friday, 30 August 2019

Here in England, we don’t have a particularly strong relationship with monster trucks. It’s hard to understand the excitement – it all feels very American, doesn’t it? Not content with normal trucks, over in the good ol’ US of A, they just had to make them fucking massive. Of course, they did. This new type of truck birthed Monster Jam, a USA-based live event tour. Beginning in 1992, just 10 years later released their first licensed video game, Monster Jam: Maximum Destruction. 17 years later, we’re still getting these games – and they really don’t seem to have come very far in that time.

This latest iteration, Monster Jam: Steel Titans, takes the idea of monster truck mayhem and pushes it to ridiculous levels with new maps, challenges, models and madness. It’s all preposterously over the top and really acts as a soft reboot, introducing new players to this franchise and hopefully persuading them that driving around in a massive truck smashing crates to bits is a good way to spend their time. Starting off at the central hub of Monster Jam University, you will learn the basics of controlling your truck and how to play the various game modes. Then, you’re thrown behind the wheel and let loose into a world of monster truck madness.

I would strongly advise you pay close attention to the tutorials because the controls are a little unusual and the handling is difficult if you’re new to the franchise, which I expect you are because you have taste and have never wasted your time on a Monster Jam game before. These difficult controls are only exaggerated by the game’s preposterous physics engine which makes the vehicles very unpredictable and near impossible to control at times.

Graphically, Monster Jam: Steel Titans isn’t the prettiest looking game on the market. While nobody expected a monster truck game to be a visual feast, I did expect more from this 2019 release. The vehicle design is by no means awful – understandably, this is where the developers have focused their attention. But just as noticeable as how much effort they’ve put into the vehicles is how little effort they’ve put into everything else. The environments do not feel remotely alive or detailed, with blocky textures and severe draw distance issues that make for a very jarring experience.

There’s certainly a lot to do, at least – plentiful game modes including standard races, free roam, stunt modes and destruction means that if you’re a fan of monster truck mayhem you’ll probably not get bored in a hurry. There’s plenty of fun to be had behind the wheel of your truck if you’re into that kind of thing. Replayability is encouraged with numerous unlockable skins and vehicle parts that will make your truck a force to be reckoned with.

On the whole, Monster Jam: Steel Titans deliver plenty of opportunity for fun and monster truck madness but the game is nowhere near polished enough for a 2019 release. The game’s visuals leave a hell of a lot to be desired and the tedious controls and physics make for a frustrating gameplay style that is very difficult to master. But if you’re into the Monster Jam games, you’ll probably find a hell of a lot to like here.

Wednesday, 28 August 2019

Remember Nancy Meyers’ 2000 rom-com What Women Want, starring Mel Gibson? No? Don’t worry, nobody does. It was utter shite. Well, 19 years on, somebody has decided that the premise should be updated and we should be gifted with a remake/reboot/sequel – although this time, it has been gender-swapped (how original). What Men Want is one of those things that nobody asked for, nobody wanted, a few people watched – and largely disliked – and will never watch it again. It will sink to the depths of mediocre modern rom-com (and probably land somewhere near What Women Want, which sank back in ’00).

Taraji P. Henson, a wonderful actress totally wasted here despite her best efforts, plays Ali Davis, passed up for a well-deserved promotion and wondering what she needs to do to succeed in a man's world. Hoping to find answers from a psychic, Ali drinks a weird concoction that suddenly allows her to hear what men are thinking. Using her newfound ability, Ali starts to turn the tables on her obnoxious male colleagues while racing to sign the next basketball superstar. This gender reversal of the source material should’ve allowed for a very timely and powerful look at gender politics in the workplace and maybe even delve into the #MeToo movement and make some insightful comments. Comedy can certainly make these points – recent Mindy Kaling film Late Night did it very well.

Despite an interesting premise that genuinely offers potential, What Men Want is the second time the premise has been totally wasted by drivel. First and foremost, Henson – an absolutely incredible performer who delivered one of 2016’s finest performances in Hidden Figures – is just uncomfortable viewing here. Granted, part of the issue is the way her character is written. She’s ‘one of the boys’, a loud party animal who drinks the other men of her office under the table. But Henson over-acts with such a shouty performance that it is totally exhausting to endure. Everything about the film feels uncomfortably dated – the jokes, the structure, the plot; everything here reeks of a retrograde workplace comedy.

Continuing to prove that gender-flipping a remake does not make it fresh, What Men Want is a painfully unfunny and tedious watch. Tonally, the film is a mess. At times, it falls into an astute sexism commentary and feels like it’s going to dig deep into an important subject. Then, it totally dismisses that approach for raunchy, crude laughs (that don’t land). OK, so it’s a sex comedy. Oh, wait, no, the genre is changing again! Now it’s a workplace drama. What is it? It’s all over the place, making for a jarring experience. And with all this going on, it’s just too bloody long at 2 hours. Thank goodness, then, that director Adam Shankman didn’t release his original cut which he claims clocked in at over 3 hours…

What Men Want is bursting with untapped potential. The film could’ve had a powerful message, but instead, has absolutely nothing to say. The jokes don’t land, the performances are poor, the tone is a mess and the whole thing is too long. So, all in all, not very much to recommend. Avoid.

Monday, 26 August 2019

I settled down to watch The Hustle with a few preconceptions. The comedy hadn’t reviewed well, and remakes generally tend to miss the mark at the best of times. As it turns out, it wasn’t as bad as I expected, but it was still a bit of a stinker nonetheless.

Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson team up for comedy remake The Hustle. The former is plays an experienced, refined pro who attempts to train her brash Australian counterpart in the art of the con, but they end up getting into a competition to see who can scam a tech mogul (Alex Sharp) who happens to be staying in their fictional town in the south of France. The loser has to leave, but there’s never a sense that they’ll be apart for long.

The film uses Dirty Rotten Scoundrels as a primer, although it lacks the warmth of the 1988 Michael Caine/Steve Martin version. Instead, it follows the current trend of gender-swapping main characters in a bid to tell a fresh story, but it’s really just a vehicle for Wilson to let loose with her on-stage persona.

There’s a ton of physical comedy which is hit-or-miss, including blind jokes, weight jokes, and every other premise which has already been mined extensively for any potential comedic returns ten times over. That’s not to say that you won’t laugh now and then, but much depends on if you’re able to put up with the many jokes that don’t land or watching montages that go on for far too long. Hathaway is convincing enough as a haughty scammer with a questionable English accent, proving to be an effective foil for her costar, but she doesn’t draw many laughs herself.

English comedian Chris Addison was handed his first major directorial role with this movie, and you can see his Anglo influences in a few places. There's a trio of Essex girls who get roped in, but nothing to suggest the ability of the man in charge. It’s mostly a generic chalk and cheese pairing, squandering the talents of the main duo who do try their best to squeeze out something watchable for the paying audience.

The Hustle easily exceeded my limited expectations given the mediocre reviews it received upon release. Despite that, it’s not very good, and it’ll hopefully dissipate from my memory in a month or so. It’s a film made for Wilson, so you’ll probably enjoy it if you’re a fan of her previous output or slapstick comedies in general. With a few defining features, it’s something to stick on in the background while you’re staring at a phone, or just about good enough to watch passably on a long-haul flight. Otherwise, you can probably find a better film to fill a runtime of 94 minutes. Personally, I’d recommend Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, which still holds up today.

Sunday, 25 August 2019

‘Wolfenstein: Youngblood’ is the latest Nazi-killing alternate history outing developed by Machine Games, and this time it’s in collaboration with Arcane studios who’ll you know from the ‘Dishonored’ series. The game is less of a sequel to the previous ‘Wolfenstein’ games and more of a standalone expansion off-shoot, which at times feels like a bit of an experiment when you compare it to the others. It’s smaller in scope than the previous games yet at the same time seems to be trying so many different things, leaving me wondering as to what it’s trying to be.

Throughout ‘Wolfenstein: Youngblood’ you play as one of two of B J Blaskovitz’s daughters, who are trying to search for their father who has gone missing on a mission in occupied France. There are loads of Nazi-decimating fun to be had within the missions like in previous games, however, this time around there are more open-ended missions meaning you can attack your objectives in any order that you want.

The game is now also fully co-op, and this is where it truly shines. It’s unfortunate for solo players though as the level of fun you can experience in co-op does not translate into solo, with the AI of the second sister being awful most of the time and mediocre at best. I’d recommend playing with a friend or even a stranger if possible – for some reason it really adds to the fun of obliterating those Nazis, which you can do with a great selection of weaponry that are really fun to fight with.

The problem I had with the game was the way that the mission structure works – it’s fairly repetitive, with the semi open-world nature of the game leading to a multitude of missions for the various citizens of Paris and the French Resistance that don’t always feel meaningful and rarely stand out. You’ll find yourself saving citizens and killing mechs time and time again, and after a while, it feels like you’ve done it all before. I got the feeling that the world has been designed to include as much content as possible, however, this is an instance where that’s not necessarily a good thing.

The whole time I was playing I wondered to myself how much more fun I would be having if the game had stuck to what it did best in the previous games. Although in the first two games each level was semi-open, there was always a sense of urgency that was leading you to the next bombastic set-piece. Open worlds are so popular right now, but sometimes not bowing to what everyone else is doing can really make you stand out and give your audience a refreshing and original game, rather than something they quickly tire of because they spend the majority of their gaming time in open-world scenarios.

The graphics were very good, as was the world design, though I didn’t feel motivated to explore it all as there didn’t feel like there was enough in the world to warrant it. The combat is exhilarating like all ‘Wolfenstein’ games with gripping minute to minute action, so this at least balanced out the less-than-exciting world exploration.

It was clear from my playthrough that the developers want you to play this game co-op, so I can only recommend it for those that have that intention in the first place – as a primarily solo player I felt let down by that side of things as co-op was the only way to truly enjoy the game and not notice the repetitive nature of the missions so much. It’s fun at points, but it’s not the ‘Wolfenstein’ I was hoping for.

Saturday, 24 August 2019

2016 brought one of the biggest surprises of recent years in the world of animated film. The Angry Birds Movie should, by all accounts, have been shit. It didn’t have a huge amount going for it – it was based on a game, for starters. And not just that, but a PHONE game. Add to that the fact that it was brought to us by Sony Pictures Animation – the company behind Hotel Transylvania and the dreadful Smurfs movies – and this one should’ve been a dud. In actual fact, it was hilarious, charming, colourful fun. I loved it. So now, we are presented with something that should be even worse – a sequel to a film based on a phone game…

Picking up directly where the first film left off, this sequel follows King Mudbeard (Bill Hader), the ruler of the Bad Piggies, as he plots revenge against Red (Jason Sudeikis), Chuck (Josh Gad), Bomb (Danny McBride) and the rest of the Angry Birds after they devastated his homeland in a prior battle, leading to a comical war that seemingly does not end - until a mysterious purple bird named Zeta (Leslie Jones) threatens them all with her own plans after being fed up with living in a remote, arctic island. To avoid a frozen fate, the Birds and Pigs forge an uneasy alliance and become ‘frenemies’ against Zeta and embark on a new adventure.

There isn’t a huge amount one can say about The Angry Birds Movie 2 that wasn’t said about the first film, so your enjoyment of the 2016 origin story will entirely dictate the enjoyment of this sequel. The bizarre humour, non-stop gags and general kinetic approach to story-telling is just as it was in part one – so if like me, you loved the first film, then you’ll have a great time with The Angry Birds Movie 2. It’s that simple. This is not a sequel that pushes the envelope whatsoever or does anything innovative. It’s very much an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” sequel – and that’s fine by me.

What The Angry Birds Movie 2 does add, however, is some new characters. SNL’s Leslie Jones steals the show as the antagonist Zeta, while her right-hand-bird Debbie voiced by the hilarious Tiffany Haddish also gets plenty of laughs. Returning cast Sudeikis, Gad, McBride, Hader, Maya Rudolph and Game of Thrones’ Peter Dinklage slip straight back into their characters and make one of the funniest voice casts you could possibly ask for.

Obviously, this is a film aimed at children – but if you want a break from the seriousness of this world, Angry Birds 2 is the perfect antidote to the madness. The film’s crazy, surreal humour and charmingly simplistic narrative make for a wonderful cinematic escape, and easily one of the funniest animated films of recent years. Sure, it ain’t anywhere near Disney levels of quality, but it doesn’t care. It doesn’t take itself remotely seriously or really try and deliver much of a message – it’s too busy trying to make us laugh. And it succeeds admirably. Long may the Angry Birds cinematic universe continue!

Friday, 23 August 2019

Well, here’s one of the biggest surprises of the year. At the time of writing this review, Dora & The Lost City of Gold is sitting pretty on Rotten Tomatoes at 80% - beating Disney’s 2019 Lion King, Dumbo and Aladdin remakes. Yep, this Dora update has bested not one, not two but three Disney films – at least on a critical level. I don’t imagine it’ll come anywhere near their box office. But Dora & The Lost City of Gold, directed by James Bobin, was expected by many to be an absolute shower of shit – and yet, somehow, against all odds, it has emerged as one of the best-reviewed family films of the year so far.

Having spent most of her life exploring the jungle, nothing could prepare Dora (Isabela Moner) for her most dangerous adventure yet - high school. Accompanied by a ragtag group of teens and Boots the monkey (inexplicably voiced by Danny Trejo), Dora embarks on a quest to save her parents (Eva Longoria and Michael Peña) while trying to solve the seemingly impossible mystery behind a lost Inca civilization.

First and foremost, Dora & The Lost City of Gold boasts an absolutely fantastic performance from Isabela Moner at its centre. The rising star, who you may recognise from Transformers: The Last Knight, Sicario 2 and Instant Family, puts in a wonderfully layered and heart-warming performance as the wide-eyed young explorer. With the film aimed primarily at the now grown-up audience who grew up with the preschool TV series, the iconic heroine has been grown up too. While this is still absolutely aimed at a younger audience, it is far more sophisticated than the source programme – and the character of Dora has become a little more complex too, wonderfully performed by Moner.

The film, directed by James Bobin and co-written by Nicholas Stoller (the team who worked on 2011’s The Muppets) continue their love for self-aware, ironic humour with this surprisingly funny big-screen adaptation for a pretty basic TV series. All of Dora’s fourth-wall-breaking in the TV series is handled here so wonderfully and humorously, and a particularly funny sequence brings Dora’s iconic animation back to life on the big screen – only for us, the audience, to learn this sequence is a drug-fuelled sequence when our characters encounter hallucinogenic flowers on their adventure. Wow. Yep, this is certainly more mature than the source material.

This is funny, fresh and heartwarming fun that had absolutely no right to be this good. It’s by no means a masterpiece, obviously. But it’s got such an enormous heart and endless charisma thanks to the wonderful work from rising star Isabela Moner who could easily birth a whole franchise off the back of her work here. So, one of the biggest cinematic surprises of the year for sure. If you don’t believe me, watch the film - with an open mind – and I promise you’ll have a lot of fun. IF you don’t, you have absolutely no soul whatsoever and you cannot be saved…

Thursday, 22 August 2019

‘Fire Emblem’ is one of Nintendo's flagship titles but I’d say is probably the least widely appreciated. It has, however, always had a cult following in the gaming world because of its amazing strategy gameplay and the wonderfully challenging permadeath function. The newest release, ‘Fire Emblem: Three Houses’ has garnered a lot more interest from mainstream audiences and really seems to be a push for Nintendo to make it a mainstream success.

I’m going to say from the start that this is not your typical ‘Fire Emblem’ game. There has been so much added to it to make it meatier and appealing to RPG fans, and I’d say that this is mostly a good thing. In previous games, almost 80% of the game was focused on battle, with the remaining content being story elements, upgrading characters, and so on. In ‘Fire Emblem: Three Houses’ I would say this contributes to only 50% of the game.

The other half is probably best described as being a ‘Persona 5’ system. Within the story, you are drafted in by certain events to be a professor at an Officers’ Academy for promising military-based individuals from three different countries on the continent. You get to choose which house to teach out of the Golden Deer, Black Eagles, and Blue Lions, and then from there you will interact with and guide certain individuals in your house in battle and socially.

There has been so much work gone into the social and teaching aspect of the game, such as every line of dialogue being voiced in both Japanese and English. This really adds to the immersion of the game and becomes especially important if you are playing on Classic Mode where permadeath is active. This means that if a character gets defeated in battle, they are gone forever from all parts of the game. Of course, if you don't feel like having this constant worry and anxiety over your characters’ lives (I found it really stressful, personally) then you can play on Normal Mode where if a character is defeated then they will be available in the next battle (and your rocketing levels of guilt are dissipated).

The battle system in the game is very well done like in previous games. You will level your characters up by fighting and then can upgrade and transform them into better types, such as mages transforming into priests to get better stats and magic.

My main complaint with the game is the writing, as it is trying to mirror ‘Persona 5’ but never really reaches the same heights. The story is good and has some excellent twists but many of the characters irked me as it went on, making me not care as much about the outcome of each story arc.

In the end, ‘Fire Emblem: Three Houses’ feels like an experiment by the developer which on most fronts has worked. It is a marvellous strategy game that suffers from some occasionally lacking writing but is saved by some truly epic moments within the story. If you are looking for a strategy game with the social system of ‘Persona’ then you really can't go wrong with it, and with the potential of hundreds of hours of content by playing through the story of all three houses then you will be kept busy for a while!

Tuesday, 20 August 2019

I’m pretty sure at this point, you all know exactly what you’re getting with a Fast and Furious film. You can expect speed and anger if the title of the franchise is anything to go by. And yeah, I think that’s really all you get when you think about it. Lots of scowling and heavy-handed masculinity sandwiched between over-the-top car chases. But it’s proven to be one of Hollywood’s most lucrative franchises, so it’s showing no signs of, ahem, slowing down.

Fast & Furious Presents Hobbs & Shaw is the first of presumably a long line of F&F spin-offs and puts the spotlight entirely onto the titular characters Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), a pair of bald tough guys introduced in the main film series. The film follows the once-enemies forging an unlikely alliance to take on a genetically-enhanced terrorist (Idris Elba). Also along for the ride is Shaw’s sister (Vanessa Kirby), which has proven to be one of the film’s most amusing talking points – despite her being over 20 years younger than the Stath, the film supposes that they are the same age which is either an ego-kissing compliment to Statham or an insult to the wonderful Kirby. Either way, on a plot level, it’s hilariously far-fetched.

Hobbs & Shaw is a film that is difficult to review, and it almost feels redundant to do so. The franchise’s blindly loyal fans aren’t going to care what anyone says and will throw all of their money at Hobbs & Shaw without question. Those who aren’t going to watch the film know that they’re not going to watch it from the franchise alone – so why do they care what I say. With that all said, what is there to say about the film?

Not a lot. If I were to sum up Hobbs & Shaw in a word, it would be ‘fine’. I can’t really knock the stupidity of the film because it’s so self-aware. Those who criticise the F&F’s franchise for the outlandish, over-the-top set-pieces are totally missing the point. I would argue that these films are actually subliminally spoofing the franchise they exist within. And it works. It’s just hilariously ridiculous and it knows it. The casting of two of the most self-aware and underrated comedy actors – Johnson and Statham – only reinforces this feel to the film. The pair are brilliant here and make the film entertaining at the very least.

Idris Elba and Vanessa Kirby offer some solid support, with Kirby providing the franchise with a strong female character that feels pretty rare in these sorts of petrol-head films. Helen Mirren provides some real acting chops while cameos from Rob Delaney, Ryan Reynolds and Kevin Hart bring some added laughs. But you don’t give a shit about any of that, do you? You want to know what the action is like. And it goes without saying that it’s great, explosive fun – and, of course, preposterously silly. But it is well choreographed and the CGI is perfectly decent. I shan’t spoil any of the set pieces because let’s face it, they’re really all these films have going for them.

So, is Hobbs & Shaw worth your time? Well, it is flawed. First and foremost, it’s too bloody long and even then feels like there’s far too much crammed into what is essentially just a brainless car film. There’s far too much plot for a film that doesn’t need it and it does get tedious. But hey, there are worse ways to spend a mindless 2 and a bit hours. If you hate the franchise then obviously this isn’t going to convert you, and if you love the franchise you’ll probably consider this a masterpiece. If like me, you’re pretty neutral towards Fast & Furious, you’ll find something here to like.

Wednesday, 14 August 2019

I can't recall a single filmmaker ever dividing critics like Quentin Tarantino. Every movie in his illustrious career has split the critics and attracted controversy wherever they're shown. Whether that's from his particular brand of violence, the time someone passed out during the adrenalin scene of a showing of Pulp or the number of times a certain derogatory term is used. But here we are nine films in, almost thirty years later and the dude just doesn't care, carving out a filmography like no other, without a thought for his critics, making the films both he, and I, want to see.

I was lucky enough to have heard about a pop up at 'Sounds Of The Universe', an old record store in Soho, where if you were one of the first sixty people through the door, you won a ticket to go and see 'Once Upon A Time...' at Sony Pictures headquarters a week before general release. So I pulled myself out of bed at around 5.30am and basically ran to Soho. I snagged that golden ticket (rather, a pink wristband) and grabbed all the free Tarantino swag they were handing out.

I've been waiting for this film ever since the disappointment of his last film, The Hateful 8. But unlike the Hateful 8, a project I followed all the way from the script leak, with 'Once Upon A Time...' I avoided everything, including the trailer. I find now that trailers give away far too much so best to avoid them where possible.

'Once Upon A Time...' takes us back to the late 60s, when flower power and peace & love were what people preached. Our main character, Rick Dalton (Di Caprio), is a TV actor past his prime trying to make the transition to movies. Along with his best friend and stunt double Cliff Booth (Pitt), they navigate through the cut-throat business that is Hollywood and a movie industry that is clearly in a period of transition. But like Tarantino's films of past, he takes a pinnacle point in our history (in this instance the story of Sharon Tate and the Manson Family) and does what only Tarantino does best.

This is possibly the most, and hardest, I've ever laughed at any of his films. In every review I've read they are calling this '...a love letter to Hollywood' to which I would be inclined to agree. Having himself grown up in Los Angeles during this defining era, we are showered with obscure TV & film references that really only Tarantino would know about. His encyclopedic knowledge of cinema and its history is truly laid bare in this 2-hour 45-minute epic. As well as this, it has all the hallmarks you come to expect from one of his pictures. Over the top violence, tension in the right places, hilarious set-pieces, bare feet galore and the perfect soundtrack to tie it all together. If you do decide to go and see this film, as you should, you are basically talking a near 3-hour walk inside Tarantino's head. What could be better than that?

If I had to pick at it the only issue with any Tarantino film really is they all get compared to Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs. These films made such an impact on the industry and the audience that he became a victim of his own success and genius. Luckily he doesn't give a damn what anyone thinks and makes the films he wants to make anyway. There are also a couple of scenes that don't really need to be there, in my opinion. It does drag it out a little, but he's Tarantino. He can do whatever the hell he wants!

Whilst the likes of Scorsese, Spielberg and Cameron have always pushed the envelope in new technologies within their own work, Tarantino remains one of the industries purists. Always insisting on shooting film instead of digital with a heavy hand on dialogue and unique, instantly recognizable characters. To see this film the way he wants you to see it, you have to find a cinema with the capability of projecting 35mm. His film making style throws back to another period in cinema that this really does lend itself to and whilst he's still around and making movies like this, we should savour these moments.

But will this be the penultimate Tarantino film? It feels like it could be. He's threatened to retire at 60 after only making 10 films. He's now 56 and on his ninth film. The timeline looks about right so this could actually have some weight to it. But whether or not we get a Kill Bill 3 (I sure do hope so), or another western, I eagerly await whatever comes next.

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